Beatification | Russian River Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
This beer is very unique and inspired by breweries in the Lambic region of Belgium and, especially, our friends at Cantillon. It is 100% spontaneously fermented, meaning yeast is not added. Once the beer is brewed, it is transferred to a cool-ship or “horny” tank located in our barrel room at the pub. There it sits overnight and collects whatever funky wild yeast and bacteria may be living in the room. The next day it is transferred to oak wine barrels where it ferments wildly and ages for a few months. The end result is a wild, spontaneously fermented, sour, and tasty hand-crafted beer!

Poured into my Bruery snifter. Looks really nice, intensely yellow with a present whitish head. The nose is vinegar funk, baby diaper (I think I finally understand what this disgusting sounding descriptor means), wood, and some lemon rind. The taste is like the nose (lemon rind, wood, funky, vinegar, maybe a touch of sweetness from white grape and/or peach?) with an important difference - there's an aggressive sourness that hits the back of the throat. It's not the sourness of a Fou Foune, instead, this was as though someone took unflavored sour candy powder and just dumped it in the brew. An effervescent sourness that elicits gas (via a burp) and tests the strength of my lower esophageal sphincter at containing the contents of my stomach. Overall, this beer is actually pretty hard to drink, physically. Left me with almost immediate heartburn, way more so than other funky beers including C+C LaFolie, Fou Foune, JJ Blauw, etc. The more hardcore sourheads with me liked it a lot. To me, this beer had no subtlety to it. Had an opportunity to try a lot of rarer sours recently, and this one was not near the top.

EDIT: lots can change in 9 months. Had b005 several times recently and it is crazy good. Edited well up to reflect this.

An inch and a half of ghostly white head sits on top of a golden yellow wheat colored body that is refreshing in itself. The nose is really exciting with such balance between the acidic sour and funky wheat tones. Sour cherries and sugary candied feel are really there. Shazam! Sharply tart as you take first sip, vinegary and acidic with lemony zest up front on the tongue, the sour feel really hangs on to both sides of the tongue. Now this really mellows out and turns sustainably powdery. Mouthfeel is early apple crisp and really enjoyable. initially the sour seems a bit strong but it quickly becomes lovely. Very nice.